Thomas Jefferson baseball wins first game since coach’s death

For the first time since the death of head coach Joe Townsend, the Thomas Jefferson High School baseball team took the field May 5. The Raiders hosted Auburn Mountainview in an important game for their season and their community.

Players and coaches honored Townsend with a banner that will remain in centerfield and a jersey provided by the Tacoma Rainiers with the number 25 on it along with Townsend’s name across the back.

Assistant Coach Harold Adams is now filling in for Townsend, and knew that Townsend would be looking down on the Raiders on a sunny Monday afternoon.

“First off, rest in peace Coach Townsend, this was all because of him. The players, fans, field, this was all him. Today we won this game for him. We are just so pumped. It was an incredible feeling walking off a memorial game. I am so proud of these players and how they responded to such a hard time,” Adams said.

The Raiders defeated Auburn Mountainview in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly from Wyatt Ford to win 7-6 on May 5.

“He’s a big emotional guy. Townsend used to constantly joke with us about him throwing his helmet at practice and getting in his own head a little bit. I’m not just happy about winning, but I’m happy he got his moment. For him to be able to step up in the moment when we needed him, that meant the world,” said senior Andre Redmond, who came around to score the winning run.

Townsend loved these types of games — a back and forth, up-and-down contest for all seven innings. For a team that has seen an immeasurable amount of adversity, this was nothing for them to overcome.

“This was a game that he would have loved to be a part of. I know he is here in spirit. He was with us today and helped us get this win,” Adams said.

“He would have loved this game. This is his type of game to the ‘T’,” Redmond said.

Redmond, a senior for Thomas Jefferson, led off the bottom of the seventh with a double down the left field line. He had known Townsend outside of Thomas Jefferson baseball, and really felt Townsend’s presence on the field during his at-bat.

“That was my guy. I didn’t start my baseball career at TJ and he brought me in and we spent a lot of time together outside of baseball. He was my mentor genuinely. He was a great guy. He was going to make sure I turned into a man,” Redmond said.

After a hit-by-pitch taken by Ikaika Frank, Ford stepped up, and after fouling off a pitch when pinch runner Mason Nuez was standing on second base, he put his hand in his face in frustration. But two pitches later, he hit a fly ball to right that was just enough for Redmond to score.

Redmond is a leader for Thomas Jefferson on and off the field, and was the perfect player for Adams to rise to the moment.

“Andre is a big leader for us. He’s such an important person to this team. It’s been a pleasure having him as one of our leaders. Stepping up when we needed it, with that clutch double, that sent us in motion to get momentum going,” Adams said.

The game was a roller coaster of a baseball game, regardless of the added emotional effects for what these players, coaches and fans have gone through. Auburn Mountainview struck first with three runs in the fourth inning and seemed to have a bead on Luis Sanchez.

But Sanchez was able to navigate trouble and pitched 5.1 innings, allowed six hits, three runs (2 earned), struck out six and walked four.

“He is an absolute gamer. If Townsend was here, he would be putting him in as well. That’s our guy. I knew days ago that today was going to be his day… Today he brought it and pitched with the spirit of Coach Townsend as well,” Adams said.

The offense got going in the fifth as Kort Baker grounded out to first with the bases loaded to score Kingston Edwards. The big inning for Thomas Jefferson came in the sixth.

“The message was Coach Townsend’s message: ‘If you get punched in the get you gotta get back up and punch back.’ We continued to fight and we had faith that we were going to win this game,” Adams said.

The Raiders sent nine batters to the plate and five Raiders came around to score as they took a 6-3 lead when all was said and done. Redmond led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch, and Frank followed with a walk. Redmond scored on some heads-up base-running stealing home. Kingston Edwards recorded an RBI to tie the game at three.

J. Hanemann scored on an error and the big hit was from Baker, who singled home two massive insurance runs for the Raiders.

Thomas Jefferson needed just three outs to win their first game since April 28. But the Lions showed a fight of their own and scratched across three runs all with two outs in the inning.

The Raiders showed resolve in a perilous time. Wyatt Ford hit home the game-winning run in an 0-2 count to win the Raiders’ first game in honor of Joe Townsend.

“Wyatt has been with us since he was a freshman. He didn’t have a ton of at-bats this year, but dealing through adversity and not letting the moment get too big and doing just enough, that’s all we ask, and he did his job today,” Adams said.

The Raiders are looking to make their second straight district tournament and are in fifth place as only six teams make the playoffs.

“The baseball history at this school is not the brightest. But after last year, we made a playoffs and we are back. We just gotta keep our head down, take it pitch by pitch and game by game and keep working,” Redmond said.